


power surge

by autisticlalna (mathonwys)



Series: casting a shadow (Shadow People AU) [4]
Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Angst, Gen, Grian isn't even in this one and he STILL causes a problem, Hurt/Comfort, Living Shadows, Mumbo being a spoon has dire consequences, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Shadow People AU, someone gets hurt but theyre fine, this time with a little more comfort (but not nearly enough)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 16:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21122102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mathonwys/pseuds/autisticlalna
Summary: "The chain worked like this: Mumbo worked at Sahara. Mumbo got called in to fix something Grian broke. Murmur followed Mumbo, as always, to spot check and make sure he wasn’t too much of a spoon about it. Here comes the problem: Doc’s shadow, missing his friend, decided to visit."Everyone knows that Doc's shadow can't be around redstone. This makes being friends with Mumbo's shadow complicated. It gets worse when the Architechs learn that his combination of intelligence and passiveness isn't the only thing that sets Doc's shadow apart from the others.(in which doc's shadow has a panic attack and explodes sahara, just a little bit.)(written for the Shadow People AU by mine-sara-sp on tumblr!)





	power surge

**Author's Note:**

> IOU: One (1) fanfic with Doc's shadow that ISN'T angst
> 
> based off a conversation about how Killjoy (Joe's shadow) started developing new powers after being killed so many times, and the possibility of it being something other shadows could do after evolving enough. at this point in the au, there's only a couple of shadows that would qualify: Joe's, Biffa's (potentially), and Doc's. the idea is that a shadow's power is based off of what they want most; in Killjoy's case, he wants control, so he gains the ability to possess Joe. what Doc's shadow wants, more than anything, is to never be trapped and killed ever again. unlike Killjoy, he has no control over it.
> 
> this fic has maybe one of the worst panic attack scenes ive written and thats even after i toned it down some, so like.. be careful? ): local fanfic author accidentally projects too hard. whoops.
> 
> legit tho i really do want to write something w/ shadoc that isnt angst, its just that everyone keeps giving me ideas for angst BGJXBGKJD

It was weird how Mumbo was kinda getting used to this.

Scratch that, it was weird how _ everyone _ was getting used to this. The shadows hadn’t been around that long, all things considered, but they were pretty much a part of everyday hermit life now. Even if one of the mobs wasn’t around, the topic of them came up fairly often; there were always rumours, always plans, always _ something _ revolving around the shadows. Usually it was a hermit raising concern about Biffa’s; from what Mumbo had heard, it had evolved into quite an efficient killer, and its summoner was getting more and more lax about letting it run free.

That part he had personal experience with. And by “personal experience”, he meant getting stabbed. Several times. Often in a row.

And then there was Mumbo himself. Or, specifically, Mumbo’s shadow. Somehow, he’d ended up with the rare instance of a passive shadow; the only time he’d died to it had been when he’d first summoned it, and even then it wasn’t really to the shadow itself. He’d panicked, fled, and misjudged how much health he had left when he tripped and had a rather embarrassing end to fall damage. Since then, his shadow had been always present around him, and in fact seemed to try and do its best to _ stop _ him from dying.

(Grian had gotten tired of calling it “Mumbo’s shadow” a while ago, and started calling it “Jumbo”. The name didn’t stick. Neither did the other ones he tried. It was Joe, local wordsmith, that had come up with “Murmur”. As far as Mumbo knew, Joe was the only other person on the server that had named their shadow.)

Being followed by your shadow was a normal experience. So was being followed by your shadow mob, although for most people that weren’t named “Mumbo” that meant they were being hunted down. Where things got especially weird was being followed by someone _ else_’s shadow. _ That _ was the part Mumbo was still getting used to.

Although, if he was being specific, Doc’s shadow wasn’t following him: it was following Murmur. The truth behind what happened to him was an open secret-- the hermits had already noticed that the shadows evolved with each death, becoming stronger and smarter, and none of them had expected how far it could go until Doc’s experiments ended with a sapient shadow that was terrified of everyone and everything. The discovery altered everyone’s perspective on the shadows. They were no longer just hostile mobs-- or, rather, they had the potential to be far more than just hostile mobs, if killed enough.

How exactly Doc’s shadow became friends with Murmur, though, Mumbo had no idea. Murmur didn’t get along with the shadows of the other Architechs (he couldn’t blame it, after the last time he’d had an encounter with Grian’s), and the other shadows didn’t have the highest opinion of it since it became passive. Doc’s shadow had been the exception. Murmur was about as protective of him as it was of Mumbo, and after he’d started to recover enough to feel comfortable around the hermits Doc’s shadow had taken to following it around.

It wasn’t perfect. Mumbo was a redstoner, the person that had initially put the “tech” in Architech, and Murmur was the second set of hands and eyes he desperately needed to catch the constant mistakes he made. The problem that came into play was that Doc’s shadow was absolutely, completely terrified of redstone contraptions. Even rather harmless things like sorting systems could be a trigger, especially if Doc himself was involved or even just nearby.

It didn’t occur to Mumbo that Sahara would be a problem.

The chain worked like this: Mumbo worked at Sahara. Mumbo got called in to fix something Grian broke. Murmur followed Mumbo, as always, to spot check and make sure he wasn’t too much of a spoon about it. Here comes the problem: Doc’s shadow, missing his friend, decided to visit.

Mumbo didn’t suspect anything when he heard Sahara’s doors open and Iskall yell “Mumbo, you’ve got a visitor!” He looked up from where he was taking a momentary break and caught sight of none other than Doc’s shadow peering in, yellow eyes wide with anxiety. “Oh, hello there!” Mumbo waved. “Are you looking for Murmur?”

“**Yeah.**” He sounded like Doc, although his voice had an odd quality to it like the other shadows that solidified them as otherworldly. It had taken some getting used to, and was even weirder listening to Doc talk to him. His shadow sounded more timid, less sure of himself, and always carried himself like he was expecting something to go wrong around him. “**Um… Am I interrupting something?**”

“No, heavens no!” Mumbo shook his head emphatically. “It’s in the back right now. Grian jammed the systems again, and Murmur’s the only one that can get in there without having to break anything and replace it…”

Doc’s shadow swallowed hard, his throat tightening. Right. Of course. “**Thanks,**” he responded with a forced smile that Mumbo took as genuine. “**Good luck with your… whatever you’re doing.**” The next time Mumbo looked up, the shadow was already gone.

Doc’s shadow never been in Sahara before. To be honest, it was a bit overwhelming. Mumbo’s directions had been vague, but he was able to find the entrance to the automated storage with minimal difficulty. Once he stepped inside, though, everything changed.

The welcoming, streamlined aura of Sahara was gone. He was surrounded, on all sides, by redstone.

He could hear it. It was all around him: the ticking of mechanisms, the clicking of dispensers, the firing of pistons, everything drilling into him, boxing him in. His breathing hitched and his hands gripped the fabric of his torn lab coat like a lifeline; it got louder and louder as he braved the perceived danger, searching desperately for any sign of Murmur. He couldn’t do this-- no, no, he could do this. Just a little more. He just had to find Murmur, and then they could go back out into the lobby and Mumbo could go in here instead and he wouldn’t be thinking about crusher traps, about lava dispensers, about being dropped down to bedrock, about every creative way Doc had thought of to kill him--

Doc’s shadow was maybe the most developed shadow on the server. If not for his appearance, it would be easy to mistake him for a player by just going off his behaviour and intelligence. Death after death in Doc’s contraptions had evolved him further than almost every other shadow so far, at the cost of him being passive from trauma; the only other ones on his level so far were Joe’s, Biffa’s, and potentially Grian’s. It didn’t just mean he was the smartest, it also meant he was one of the _ strongest_.

What exactly a strong enough shadow could _ do _ was something the hermits had no idea about.

Murmur was a rather simple shadow. Mumbo had never killed it. There was no need to: Murmur had never posed a threat, and any benefit he could get from it was far outweighed by the risk of his shadow deciding to not be passive anymore the next time it was summoned. Murmur was smart enough to understand players speaking to it, and how to fix redstone, and how to help people that needed its help. It also had several strong opinions on the hermits, and on its fellow shadows.

It didn’t hurt Mumbo because Mumbo was an idiot. Mumbo was far more of a danger to himself than Murmur could ever be, and ever since it had been summoned and saw its summoner tumble off a short cliff to his death it had made it its mission to look after him because clearly he wasn’t going to himself.

Some of the other hermits, though, Murmur didn’t like at all. Usually it was the ones that were mean to Mumbo, or reckless with his safety. Grian, especially. Grian’s shadow was worse. Grian’s shadow didn’t hunt or kill like Biffa’s did. Grian’s shadow had his summoner’s prankster tendencies turned up to 11 and without any of the safeguards. None of Murmur’s encounters with Grian’s shadow had been pleasant, and none of them ever would be. Most encounters with the other shadows weren’t.

Doc’s shadow was different. Murmur didn’t like Doc. He badly hurt his shadow, and now Murmur did what it could to make sure he wouldn’t be hurt again. Doc’s shadow didn’t trust the other hermits, and none of the other shadows liked Murmur, so they were friends. Murmur was helping Doc’s shadow feel more at ease, because Mumbo was stupid and wouldn’t hurt him so he was safe to be around, even if he was a hermit. Murmur wouldn’t let Doc’s shadow die again. No one was going to let Doc’s shadow die again.

Mumbo had left to take a break while Murmur kept working. The shadow flitted about, two-dimensional on the surface of the blocks making up Sahara’s mechanisms, as it searched for the issue; Grian had done something again, which was another strike against him. It felt like every other day that Mumbo and Murmur had to come back in to Sahara to clean up Grian’s mess. One of these days, Murmur was going to make_ Grian _come in here and fix it, except that probably wouldn’t work and he’d just break it even more.

Growing more frustrated by the moment, Murmur peeled off of the wall and shot the redstone a dirty glare. It wasn’t getting anywhere any time soon. Besides, Mumbo had been gone for a while now, and Murmur was getting fidgety without its summoner nearby.

Wait. There was a sound, barely audible over the background noise of Sahara at work. A voice carried through the warehouse, getting louder as Murmur listened-- a single phrase, repeated over and over again, picking up in speed and intensity:

“**Please, ** ** _I don’t want to die_****!**”

“What’s going on?” Iskall raised his eyebrows as Mumbo rushed past him. The other redstoner was stopped in his tracks as the hitman grabbed him by the shoulder. “Did Murmur find the problem?”

“No,” Mumbo gasped. “It got worse, actually-- the signal’s all erratic now. I need to go take a look.”

Iskall frowned. “Okay, okay. Say, where’s your friend? I didn’t see him leave.”

“Friend--?” Mumbo ran through the options. “Oh! You mean Doc’s shadow. He was here to see Murmur, actually, so I told him it was still at work in the circuitry…”

Iskall’s rough hold on his shoulder got tighter as he spun Mumbo around to face him fully. “You,” he said, enunciating each word with dangerous clarity, “told _ Doc’s shadow _ to go in the back. Which is full of _ redstone_.”

Mumbo paled. “When you put it like that…”

The nearby redstone lamps flickered. The two Architechs turned their heads to stare at them in confusion. As Mumbo and Iskall watched, they all clicked on, glowed steadily brighter, then cracked; Iskall grabbed Mumbo and tackled him to the floor as they exploded, glass shards raining down on them, and glared at him with renewed intensity. “You’re an ** _idiot_.**”

“**_I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don’t want to_ **”

Doc’s shadow curled up on the floor, arms over his head, in a sight that would’ve been all too familiar to anyone that had visited Doc’s deathtrap the day it broke. The yellow particles around him jittered and flickered like coloured static; tears ran down his face as his voice cracked, his words getting harder to hear through his sobs. The cold floor under him, the background noise around him, everything was sending him deeper into flashback after flashback of Doc’s grin, of death, of being summoned and killed and summoned and killed over and over with no time to recover before he was thrown into another trap, another trial, another experiment, another method to see what the easiest and most efficient way to kill him was.

He was going to die here. He was going to die, over and over, and get summoned over and over, and die over and over, and this time it wouldn’t stop, this time no one would save him, this time it would go on and on and on

Doc’s shadow broke.

Murmur charged through the warehouse as fast as it could go. Why was Doc’s shadow here?! Had Mumbo let him in? It needed to find him _ immediately_. Doc’s shadow couldn’t be in here, it wasn’t safe--

One of the circuits Murmur passed by flared, redstone dust burning bright as a powerful charge raced along it. The shadow turned its head for a moment to watch the current travel, then refocused to its goal of getting to Doc’s shadow before it got hurt. Sahara’s redstone could be a maze even to those that worked on it constantly, but Murmur had the layout down by now. Doc’s shadow had to still be by the entrance. It would find Doc’s shadow, and calm him down, and then look very angry at Mumbo, and things would be fine, and _ what was that noise_?

The buzzing, like a power line, rose in pitch. Mumbo, with Iskall not too far behind, staggered into the warehouse in time to see the overcharged circuit detonate hard enough to shake Sahara’s foundations. Another explosion rang out from deeper in, then another, mechanisms ill-prepared for a surge that seemed laser-targeted to destroy as much redstone as possible.

That’s… that’s not good.

Mumbo caught sight of a hunched-up black shape before the next explosion went off far too close for comfort. He heard Iskall scream in pain behind him; he turned to help, only for Iskall to shove him ahead. “I’ll be fine! Just-- stop whatever’s doing this before it gets even worse!”

Iskall’s scream pierced through Doc’s shadow like a trident. He wasn’t in Doc’s deathtrap. He was in Sahara-- he’d gone to Sahara to see Murmur, he wasn’t being killed, Doc wasn’t here--

\--but Iskall was hurt, Iskall was yelling, Mumbo was yelling, a chain reaction going off around him as the hermits panicked. A chain reaction he was at the heart of.

\-- **please, i don’t want to die --**

The terror still hammered through him, unstoppable, ratcheting up to fever-pitch. _ He couldn’t stop_. Doc’s shadow was doing this, was ripping apart everything around him, and the chaos around him only drove him deeper into his panic.

Mumbo dropped down to his knees as he was knocked off-balance. Ahead of him he could see Doc’s shadow, surrounded by rubble; the building was barely holding itself together, and there was no telling when it would break apart. Gritting his teeth, he got back up to his feet. He had to get the shadows out of here before everything crashed down on them. At least he’d found Doc’s, but...

_ Where was Murmur? _ He searched around desperately for any sign of his own shadow. “_MURMUR! _” Mumbo screamed, panic flooding through him. No no no, this couldn’t be happening-- he and Iskall would respawn fine, but what about the shadows? What about Murmur?

\--** _make it stop please i don’t want them to die_ **\--

Doc’s shadow screamed at himself. His body didn’t respond; it was like he was in complete lockdown, spiraling further and further out of control, no matter how hard he yelled inside his head. He was terrified. That single emotion overrode everything else: he was afraid, he didn’t want to be hurt, he didn’t want to be trapped again, and now it was like a rock rolling downhill and picking up speed until the inevitable crash.

Something grabbed him. Doc’s shadow felt hands gripping him by the metal arm, by his lab coat; the contact sent a jolt through him, like a train derailing. The part of his brain beyond rationality screamed _ Doc_, that he was going to end up back in the trap after all, especially after what he did, what he was doing--

“**STOP!**”

\--Mumbo?

Everything ground to a halt.

“**Stop,** ” Mumbo said again. “**Please. Stop.**”

The shadow’s breathing was ragged. Mumbo’s arms wrapped around him in a protective hug; he struggled, only for the hermit’s grip to tighten and hold him steady. The last remaining circuit fizzled, redstone burning out like a wet torch. He felt exhausted, like everything had been drained away as the terror burned out like the redstone had, leaving nothing behind. He tried to say something-- apologise-- but his voice didn’t work no matter how hard he tried.

He opened his eyes. Mumbo and Iskall were standing a few feet away from him with fearful expressions. Iskall looked like he’d been hurt, and Mumbo looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack himself.

Mumbo was standing a few feet away from him.

“**Murmur?**” he forced out, his voice barely cooperating. Sure enough, it was Mumbo’s shadow holding him. It patted him on the shoulder; its touch was reassuring, and Doc’s shadow let out a long, shaky breath as he tried to collect himself.

“I’m so, _ so _ sorry--” Oh, _ that’s _ Mumbo. “I wasn’t thinking-- oh heavens, look at this _ mess_!” Sahara’s redstone was, for lack of a better term, obliterated. The area around them looked like Grian had gone to town on it with some TNT, although even Grian had more finesse when it came to explosions compared to this. “This is going to take so long to rebuild…”

“**Stop**,” Murmur said firmly. Doc’s shadow did his best to try and disappear into his lab coat. Iskall shook his head, set aside his frustration for later, and helped Murmur get Doc’s shadow to his feet.

“Let’s get out of here,” Iskall said gently. Doc’s shadow nodded limply and trailed along behind the Architechs. The lobby wasn’t in much better shape; as Iskall led the group out the door, the ceiling decided it had enough and caved in behind them with a loud crash that caused the two hermits to turn around and Doc’s shadow to literally sink into the ground. “...Let’s all agree to blame Grian and call it a day.”


End file.
